ATOR THE FIGHTING EAGLE was evidently rushed into production to cash-in on the success of CONAN THE BARBARIAN (1982); versatile (if not exactly talented) and multi-purpose “Euro-Cult” figure D’Amato shrewdly (but, perhaps, unwisely since the result is just as dire) acquired the services of the actor who had just incarnated another highly popular pulp character – namely Miles O’Keefe from TARZAN THE APE MAN (1981). By the way, Laura Gemser – star of several EMANUELLE films by D’Amato (and others) – appears here as a witch who seduces (and perishes at the hands of) Ator. While the script (by the director himself, with the reported assistance of Michele Soavi) managed to come up with a reasonable mythic background for the storyline (complete with portentous narration) – this and the presence of an amiable bear cub for Ator’s inseparable companion are the only things that spare the film the dreaded BOMB rating – it all goes for naught in the face of exceedingly dull treatment and lifeless performances!

As was the case with the John Milius/Arnold Schwarzenegger semi-classic, the hero has to defeat a bloodthirsty ruler (the Snake Cult in CONAN being replaced by one worshipping spiders with, again, a massive specimen to which sacrifices are often made), rescue a virginal damsel (whom he loves even while believing she’s his sister – though, of course, she isn’t really), and is himself aided in his exploits by a brawny female (who has feelings for him but eventually expires to ease the path to his true love). Besides, the man who saved his own life as a child, then, played by Edmund Purdom (a Hollywood star who got stuck all-too-soon in lowbrow “Euro-Cult” fare such as this) turns out to harbor designs of his own on the kingdom!

Like I said, the film ends up being nothing more than a time-waster – and, actually, far closer in spirit to the two contemporaneous Luigi Cozzi/Lou Ferrigno HERCULES adventures (both of which I also caught as a child and got to watch again recently) than CONAN itself…